Joule-Thomson effect, the change in temperature that accompanies expansion of a gas without production of work or transfer of heat.

At ordinary temperatures and pressures, all real gases except hydrogen and helium cool upon such expansion; this phenomenon often is utilized in liquefying gases. The phenomenon was invest igated in 1852 by the British physicists James Prescott Joule and William Thomso n (Lord Kelvin). The cooling occurs because work must be done to overcome the lo ng-range attraction between the gas molecules as they move farther apart. Hydrog en and helium will cool upon expansion only if their initial temperatures are ve ry low because the long-range forces in these gases are unusually weak. -------------------Joule-Thomson effect n a change in temperature of a thermally insulated gas when it is forced through a small hole or a porous material. For each gas there is a temperature of inversi on above which the change is positive and below which it is negative Also called Joule-Kelvin effect -------------------In practice, the Joule-Thomson effect is achieved by allowing the gas to expand through a throttling device (usually a valve) which must be very well insulated to prevent any heat transfer to or from the gas. External work must not be extra cted from the gas during the expansion (meaning that the gas must not be expande d through a turboexpander). The effect is applied in the Linde cycle, a process used in the petrochemical in dustry for example, where the cooling effect is used to liquefy gases, and also in many cryogenic applications (e.g., for the production of liquid oxygen, nitro gen and argon). Only when the Joule-Thomson coefficient for the given gas at the given temperature is greater than zero can the gas be liquefied at that tempera ture by the Linde cycle. In other words, a gas must be below its inversion tempe rature to be liquefied by the Linde cycle. For this reason, a simple Linde cycle cannot normally be used to liquefy helium, hydrogen and neon. --------------------